mounting floppy in read/write mode by user

[akonstam at trinity.edu]

On Wed, Sep 21, 2005 at 07:39:41AM -0500, Jeff Vian wrote:
> On Tue, 2005-09-20 at 20:42 -0500, akonstam at trinity.edu wrote:
> > On Tue, Sep 20, 2005 at 08:31:52PM -0500, Jeff Vian wrote:
> > > On Tue, 2005-09-20 at 16:29 -0500, akonstam at trinity.edu wrote:
> > > > On Tue, Sep 20, 2005 at 11:45:59AM -0500, Mike McCarty wrote:
> > > > > Deepak Shrestha wrote:
> > > > > >Hi,
> > > > > >
> > > > > >In my FC4, I have made a link to floppy device (KDE)
> > > > > >but coundn't mount it (in user mode). when I try to
> > > > > >mount the floppy, KDE ends up with error
> > > > > >
> > > > > >-------------------------
> > > > > >Could not mount device
> > > > > >
> > > > > >The reported error was
> > > > > >
> > > > > >mount: I couln't determine the the filesystem type,
> > > > > >and none was specified
> > > 
> > > How did you mount it?  There are 2 forms of the command.  One uses the
> > > fstab entry and works as a user and one does not.  
> > > 
> > > If you use the form "mount <mountpoint>" the mount command looks at the
> > > entry in fstab and a standard user on the console should be able to
> > > mount it.  I use "mount /media/floppy" and it works.
> > > 
> > > If instead you use the long form "mount <device> <mountpoint>" it also
> > > requires the "-t" option to specify the filesystem type "mount -t
> > > <filesystem> <device> <mountpoint>". Using this form as a normal user
> > > without the "-t" gives the error you see.  With the "-t" it will tell
> > > you that only root can mount (unless you are already root).  Note that
> > > as root you often do not need the -t, this seems to be part of the
> > > security features built into the mount command for verifying privileges
> > > for a user.
> > What you are saying is interesting but counter to my previous
> > experience. If user is not on the /media/floppy line it has never
> > before in my experience been possible for a normal user to mount a
> > floppy using any command at all. What you are saying is in at variance
> > with the statements in man-page of  fstab.
> > 
> > However, I can't argue that is is not working at this time for me on
> > both my FC4 machines but not for the poster of the original message.
> > That is certainly strange.
> 
> I am not sure what you are seeing.  I just repeated the test on my
> system (FC4, fully updated) with these results.
> 
> [jeff at eagle ~]$ mount /media/floppy
> [jeff at eagle ~]$ ls /media/floppy
> aspi2dos.sys  autoexec.bat  drvspace.bin  findramd.exe  oakcdrom.sys
> aspi4dos.sys  btcdrom.sys   ebd.cab       flashpt.sys   ramdrive.sys
> aspi8dos.sys  btdosm.sys    ebd.sys       himem.sys     readme.txt
> aspi8u2.sys   command.com   extract.exe   io.sys        setramd.bat
> aspicd.sys    config.sys    fdisk.exe     msdos.sys
> [jeff at eagle ~]$ umount /media/floppy
> [jeff at eagle ~]$ ls /media/floppy
> [jeff at eagle ~]$
> 
> The line in my fstab is:
> /dev/fd0    /media/floppy   auto   pamconsole,exec,noauto,managed 0 0
> 
> --------------
> So, mounting as a regular user from the console works for me.  The
> problem for the OP may be due to his version and update status, but for
> me it has worked flawlessly since (IIRC) FC3.  I use a floppy very
> seldom, so I am not 100% sure when it became possible for the regular
> user to mount a floppy by default.
> 
> I tested with/without the pamconsole option, and with it a normal user
> can mount the device.  Without it only the root user can mount the
> device.
I am seeing just what you are seeing. Obviously if you do a 
mount -t auto -o .... /dev/df0 /media/floppy 
it does not matter what fstab says. But since forever in Unix and
Linux when you do a mount like: mount /media/floppy
which depends on the line in fstab then a user cannot mount the floppy
unless user is in the options section of the fstab.
In says this in the man-page for fstab.

However, I have a line like yours in my fstab and I can mount
floppies. Since FC3 the floppy line is fstab has been managed by
fstab-sync. As I said try to put user in the fstab line and reboot .
You will see the user option will disappear. 

Bottom line thinks have changed, They are not as they used to be. I
believe you that maybe pamconsole takes on part of the job of  user as an
option. But we have really not helped the original poster very much.
-------------------------------------------
Aaron Konstam
Computer Science
Trinity University
telephone: (210)-999-7484